Europe. The taste for lingering

Inlaid brass Monument of Eleanor Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester. About 1400.

mark is affixed by a stamp-a fact which has been regarded as a proof that his craft had attained to some importance, and that his services were pretty frequently called into requisition. But in this case, as in every other, with one exception, the name of the artist has perished. The exceptional case is that of the brass which once covered the tomb of Bishop Philip, in the church of the Jacobins at Evreux, in Normandy, where the inscription ended with the words, Guillaume de Plalli me fecit.' Many of the B. executed in England in the 14th c. are probably Flemish; and in the churches at Bruges some exist which appear to be by the same hand with others which are found in England. There can be little question, indeed, that for this, as for most of the other departments of the arts, which were afterwards successfully cultivated in England, we were indebted to continental artists. Nor will it surprise those who know the results of recent archæological investigations in similar subjects, to learn that the artists of France and Flanders in their turn were debtors to those of the worn-out empire of the East. As in painting, sculpture, and architecture itself, so in the art of working in brass, the sparks of antique genius which smouldered in Byzantium were the means of kindling those

Among the knightly brasses of the graves, And by the cold hic jacets of the dead, has grown to something like a passion of late, and there are few subjects which have been more carefully illustrated than that of sepulchral brasses. References to most of the leading works, too numerous to be mentioned here, will be found in Parker's Glossary of Architecture, in an article in which their results have been carefully condensed. Of modern B., the most remarkable is that in the Cathedral at Cologne, engraved in 1837, as a monument to the late archbishop.

BRASSICA, a genus of plants of the natural order Crucifera (q. v.), distinguished by a round and tapering 2-valved pod (silique), of which the valves have each only one straight dorsal rib and no lateral veins, the seeds globose, in one row in each valve, and the cotyledons (q. v.) conduplicate (folded laterally). The species are chiefly natives of the temperate and colder regions of the old world; several are British plants. A number of species are very extensively cultivated, both in fields and gardens, and are of great importance in an economical point of view, particularly the CABBAGE (q. v.), of which Kale, Borecole, Colewort, and different kinds of Greens, Savoy, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, and Kohl Rabi are varieties; TURNIP (q. v.); RAPE (q. v.) (Colza, Cole-seed) and NAVEW (q. v.). Among the British species is one, called Isle of Man Cabbage, or Wallflower Cabbage (B. monensis), which differs from all these, and in some measure departs from the strict generic character, in having the valves of the pod 2-nerved, and one or two seeds in its beak. It has deeply pinnatifid leaves. It is found on the sandy shores of the west of Scotland, the Isle of Man, the north of Ireland, &c. Sheep and oxen are very fond of it, and it has been suggested that it might be profitably cultivated for feeding cattle. Its peculiar adaptation to sandy soils ought to recommend it to attention.

BRAUN, AUG. EMIL., an eminent archeologist, was born 19th of April 1809, at Gotha, in Germany. He studied at Göttingen and Munich, where he made the friendship of his teachers, Schelling and Gerhard; with the latter of these he went to Rome in 1833, and in a short time was made librarian, and subsequently secretary, to the Archæological Institute. He died at Rome, 12th works on art in German, Italian, and even English. September 1856. B. has written many valuable Among these may be mentioned, Il Giudizio di Paride (Paris, 1838), Kunstvorstellungen des geflügelten Dionysus (Munich, 1839), Griechische Mythologie (Hamburg and Gotha, 1850), Griechische Götterlehre (Gotha, 1851-1855), Vorschule der Kunstmythologie (Gotha, 1854, with 100 copperplate engravings), translated into English by Mr Grant; and an admirable guide-book, Die Ruinen und Museen Roms (Brunswick, 1854), translated into English, 1855. B. also executed numerous electrotype copies of ancient works of art.

BRAUNSBERG, a walled town of East Prussia, in the government of Königsberg, about 35 miles south-west of the city of that name. It is situated on the Passarage, which divides the town into two parts; and has manufactures of woollen and linen, and a considerable trade in yarn, grain, ship-timber, &c. Pop. 8360.

BRAUWER, or BROUWER, ADRIAN, a painter of the Flemish school, was born at Oudenarde (or as others say, at Haarlem) in 1608. He was apprenticed to the well-known artist Franz Hals, who made profitable use of his pupil's great talents;

keeping him in a garret like a prisoner, and making him work almost night and day, in painting small pictures, which Hals sold at very good prices. By the advice of a fellow-pupil, Adrian Van Ostade, young B. ran away from his hard taskmaster, and going to Amsterdam found, to his own astonishment, himself famous as a painter. He now worked for himself, and might soon have made a fortune; but his intemperance was so extreme, that, it is said, he would never apply himself to painting, while he could have credit or be supplied with liquor at a tavern. During the war in the Netherlands he went to Antwerp, where he was seized as a spy, and taken to the citadel. Here, to prove himself a painter, he executed a sketch of the guards who had him in their custody. This picture was shewn to Rubens, who immediately exclaimed: "That is the work of Brauwer! no other artist could treat the subject in that style.' liberated through the interposition of Rubens, who gave him a lodging, supplied him with clothing and food, and in every way acted as a generous friend. But the sole return for all this kindness was, that B. secretly fled from the house of his patron, in order to renew his career of low dissipation. After visiting Paris, and failing to find work, he returned to Antwerp, where he died in the hospital (1640), and was interred, at the cost of Rubens, in the Carmelites' Church. All B.'s paintings are marked by power and harmony of colouring, and clearness of chiaroscuro. They are pervaded by a jovial humour, and betray the favourite haunts and associations of the painter.

B. was

BRA'VI, were those individuals in Italy, but especially in Venice, who undertook to perform any dangerous deeds for money. It is now employed chiefly to designate hired assassins. The Italians also gave the name of B. to those fanatics in the Turkish army, who, after maddening themselves by opium, rushed upon the ranks of the enemy, and so met death.

BRAVO, Excellent!' Well-done!' an Italian exclamation of praise, the superlative form of which is Bravissimo! It is commonly used in England without distinction of number or gender; but the Italians say bravo! to a male singer or actor, brava! to a lady, and bravi! to a company of actors or singers. BRAVO DEL NORTE, or RIO GRANDE, the largest river in the Gulf of Mexico next to the Mississippi. It is politically important, as being throughout its whole course the boundary between Texas and Mexico; while physically its mouth may perhaps be regarded as that point on the coast where Central America, in its geographical aspect, begins to taper itself off towards the south. It rises in the Rocky Mountains, near lat. 38° N., and long. 106° 30′ W.; and after a course of 1800 miles in a generally south-east direction, it enters the sea near lat. 25° N., and long. 97° W. The commercial value of the river is not great, for, besides being for the most part very shallow, it is here and there beset by rapids and sand-bars. Small steamers, however, have got up as far as Kingsbury's Rapids, about one-fourth of the entire length of the stream.

BRAVOU'RA, an Italian word, in music applied to a composition as well as style of performance. As a composition, the B. is an air or song, with many difficult passages and divisions of notes, requiring great spirit and volubility of execution. The intention of merely astonishing by execution has brought this species of composition into undeserved discredit. The B. style first came from the Neapolitan school. Rossini, Bellini, &c., united the B. with the cantabile style; and instead of leaving

the embellishments to the taste of the singer, wrote the whole of the notes in the music. The compositions of Mozart, Beethoven, &c., give abundant proofs of how they united true artistic merit with the B. style.

Other

BRAWLING IN CHURCHES, in the law of This offence may generally be described as quarrelEngland, is an offence against the public peace. ling or creating a disturbance in a church; therefore, mere quarrelsome words, which are neither an affray nor an offence in any other place, are penal here. It was enacted by 5 and 6 Edw. VI. quarrel, chide, or brawl in a church or churchc. 4, s. 3, that if any person shall, by words only, yard, the ordinary shall suspend him, if a layman, ab ingressu ecclesiæ (from entering the church); and if a clerk in orders, from the ministration And if any person of his office during pleasure. in such church or churchyard proceed to smite or lay violent hands upon another, he shall be excommunicated ipso facto; or if he strike him with a weapon, or draw any weapon with intent to strike, he shall, besides excommunication, have one of his ears cut off, or having no ears, be branded with the letter 'F' in his cheek. But this portion of the act was repealed by the 9 Geo. IV. c. 31, s. 1. regulations respecting the disturbance of a congregation, or molestation of a clergyman during the celebration of divine service, will be found in the Mary, c. 3, passed in the year 1553, which, is still held to be the law for the protection of the although of Roman Catholic origin and application, Protestant Established Church. It enacts (section 2) that if any person or persons shall willingly and of purpose, by overt word or deed, molest or disquiet any preacher in any sermon, preaching, or collation, that he shall make in any church, chapel, churchyard, or in any other place or places, used or appointed to be preached in; or (section 3) if any person or persons shall molest a priest preparing or celebrating mass, or other such divine service, sacraments, or sacramentals as was most commonly frequented and used in the last year of the reign of the late sovereign lord, King Henry VIII., or that at any time hereafter shall be allowed, set forth, or authorised by the queen's majesty;' or shall abuse the liable to be committed to gaol, there to remain withblessed sacrament-such person or persons shall be out bail or mainprize for the space of three months then next ensuing; and further, to the next quartersessions, at which the persons so offending shall only be delivered and discharged out of prison upon sufficient sureties for their good behaviour during one whole year. The act contains other regulations for the protection of the ministrations of the church, and it saves the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical law.

By another act, 1 Will. and Mary, c. 18, s. 18, passed in 1688, it is provided that if any person or persons shall disquiet or disturb any cathedral or parish church, chapel, or other congregation, or misuse any preacher or teacher, such person or persons may be committed to prison, and on conviction, be fined £20.

It remains to be added, that reviling church ordinances subjects to fine and imprisonment-and profaning the Christian religion, and depraving the legislation. See on this subject 1 Eliz. c. 2, and the Book of Common Prayer, are also subjects of penal 9 and 10 Will. III. c. 32. See also articles on BLASPHEMY and OFFENCES AGAINST RELIGION, in which latter the Scotch law on the subject of this article will be found stated.

BRAWN, a preparation of meat made from the head and belly-piece of a young pig, with the addition

of ox-feet, to render it gelatinous. The whole is rolled up tight in sheet-tin, and boiled for four or five hours. The moisture is then well pressed out of it, and having been allowed to stand for some ten or twelve hours, the meat is put into cold salt and water, and is then fit for use. B. seems to have been a well-known dish as early at least as the latter part of the 15th c., for in Tyndale's version of the Book of Common Prayer, revised by Cranmer, and still in use, in the 70th verse of the 119th psalm, we find the words: Their heart is as fat as brawn.' The B. of Wiltshire is celebrated, and it is also a famous dish in Canterbury.

BRAXY, BRAXES, BRAXIT, BRACKS. These words are given as synonymous in Jamieson's Dictionary, indicating a disease in sheep. In the dialect of Angus, it is called braik and bracks. The derivation of the word is uncertain. The vague way in which the term braxy is used, renders it difficult to define the disease, for in different parts of the country, totally different disorders are included under this head. Of the two most generally recog. nised as braxy, the one is an intestinal affection attended with obstinate diarrhoea, the other is a blood disease, and the result of plethora or fulness of blood. The first will be considered under the head DIARRHEA; but the second, which is spoken of by the better informed shepherds as the true braxy, may be described here.

Causes. A very lean flock of sheep placed on rich food is very apt to be decimated by braxy. By rich food is meant more particularly these substances containing an abundance of nitrogenous principles, such as luxuriant heather, strong and succulent grass, the best turnips, &c. Hilly land is favourable to the production of braxy, from the firm nature and nutrient qualities of food growing on it. We find the disease in such situations in the winter season. About the month of November, many of the well-fed hoggs placed on turnips die suddenly from braxy; and, again, when farmers resort to the forcing-system towards spring, the mortality is great, particularly when, in addition to much artificial food, sheep are allowed rich pasture. The mortality is greatest at the period of full moon, from the sheep grazing during the light nights as well as by day. The shepherd very frequently at these times finds one or two dead in the morning. Some assert that, in the winter, exposure induces braxy; and it is very possible that it may be produced by any sudden check to the exhalations, which tend so much to maintain the balance of the functions and purify the blood.

Symptoms.-The animal, in full health, suddenly ceases to eat, has a staring look, is peculiarly excitable, and separates itself from the flock. The head is lifted high, the breathing becomes laboured, the countenance appears anxious, and the animal loses the power of its limbs. It totters, falls over, is seized with convulsions, and dies within five or six hours, and often within an hour from the first symptoms of the disease.

Cadaveric appearances. If the sheep's throat is cut before it breathes its last, the absence of any peculiar appearances within the body is very remarkable: the flesh appears of a dark-red colour, and the veins are charged with dark blood, but, on the whole, the body of the sheep looks so well that the mountain-shepherd cuts it up to make 'braxy mutton.' If the sheep is allowed to die of itself, the body soon swells, putrefies, and is

rendered useless.

Treatment. The prevention of the disease alone affords hope, and it consists in regulating the animal's diet, to prevent sudden transitions from low to rich keep; to mix food so as to modify the

action of the more highly nitrogenised kinds; and to check the development of plethora or fulness of blood by saline purgatives and diuretics, such as Epsom and Glauber salts or nitre. The principles to be followed out in preventing this disease are precisely similar to those referred to under the head BLACK QUARTER in cattle. Shelter during severe winter weather is insisted on by shepherds as essential to prevent the malady.

Braxy mutton, above alluded to, is, as a general rule, not unwholesome; though in warm climates the same disease in sheep assumes a very malignant type, and indeed constitutes one of the carbuncular diseases. Though the flesh can be eaten with impunity in the mountains of Scotland, it is most dangerous and condemned in Southern Europe.

BRAYERA. See Cusso.

BRAZI'L, the most extensive state of South America. Towards the interior, it borders on all the other states of that continent except Chili and Buenos Ayres-on Uruguay, the Argentine Con federation, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Granada, Venezuela, and Guiana, English, Dutch, and French; while its sea-board, beginning about 200 miles to the north of the Amazon, and reaching to within the same distance of the Plata, projects into the Atlantic fully 1000 miles to the east of the direct line-pretty nearly a meridian-between its two extremes. This immense country extends between lat. 4° 30′ N. and 33° S., and between long. 35° and 70° W., being, in round numbers, 2600 miles long and 2500 broad. The area, according to official accounts, is 3,100,000 square miles. But B. was not always, in point of extent, what it now is. The Portuguese, who, in 1500, accidentally discovered the south-east coast of the country (but that only after one of the Pinzons had, on behalf of Spain, followed the shores of the continent from its eastern angle to the mouth of the Orinoco), claimed all between the Plata and the Amazon. Soon, how. ever, the Spaniards of Buenos Ayres, feeling that the complete command of their mighty river was to them a necessary of life, colonised the left bank by founding Monte Video. But nearly twenty years earlier, B. had acquired more territory on the Amazon than it was to abandon on the Plata, having, in 1509, wrested from France, then at war with Portugal, what may now be designated Brazilian Guiana. It was only in 1531 that the Portuguese, busy as they were in India, here planted their first settlement. In 1578, B. fell, along with Portugal itself, under the power of Spain-a connection which, besides being essen. tially detrimental, speedily threw it as a prey into the hands of the Dutch Republic; and though Portugal regained its own independence in 1640, it was not until 1654 that B. was entirely recovered from the Hollanders. Thenceforward, the colony entered on a new era. Supplanted, in a great measure, throughout the east by the Dutch, the mother-country was now directing most of its attention to its possessions on either side of the Atlantic. About a century and a half later, a still more beneficial change-and that, too, arising from the mother-country's own disasters-was inaugu rated in the colony. In 1808, under the pressure of French invasion, the monarchy, in the persons of the royal family, was virtually transferred from Portugal to B., an event which, doubtless through British counsels and influence, was immediately followed by the opening of the ports to foreigners. As a remoter benefit, too, of an incident which had no parallel either in English or in Spanish America, B., on shaking off, like its neighbours, the European yoke altogether, found a merely nominal revolution

sufficient for its purpose, establishing, or rather accepting, an hereditary empire instead of restless and precarious republicanism; and ever since the transition-period of 1821-1825, this consolidated government, with subordinate institutions for local objects, has secured to B.'s twenty vast provinces comparative unity and peace.

The executive authority is vested in the emperor, who, besides being aided by a council of state, must act through responsible ministers. The legislature consists of two chambers, which sit four months every year. Both the deputies and the senators, who must have annual incomes respectively of 400 milrees and 800, are indirectly elected by voters who must possess 200 milrees per annum-the former for four years, and the latter for life. The senate, however, appears to represent the crown as well as the people, inasmuch as each constituency merely nominates three individuals for his majesty's choice of one. Justices of peace, also, are appointed by the respective communities; and in the courts generally, whether civil or criminal, there prevails trial by jury. The revenue in 1859-1860 amounted to 24,380,900, the expenditure to £4,455,229, while the public debt in 1857 amounted to £11,909,000. The army numbered in 1859, 22,586 regulars and 60,000 militia, besides a considerable police, well organised, and thoroughly equipped. In 1858, the navy mustered 55 vessels, 28 of which were steamers having 2752 horse-power. The population must now, in 1860, exceed 8,000,000, having, in 1856, amounted to 7,677,800.

Of the three grand elements of the population, Aboriginal, African, and European, the first bears a much smaller proportion to either of the others than in most parts of Spanish America. The Europeans, besides having been from the beginning rather actual colonists than mere adventurers, were necessarily shielded, under the circumstances of the revolution, from that undistinguishing fury which elsewhere expelled the Old Spaniards' as the natural enemies of the new republics. The Africans, again, continued to be imported till 1854; while the partial amalgamation of the two races gradually produced perhaps the finest variety of the mulatto in the world. Slavery, too, abolished as to the aborigines, is not unlikely soon to die a natural death altogether, as it has done in most parts of Europe. In addition to Saturdays, the negro has 35 holidays in the year, while he is entitled to buy his liberty at a just price-privileges which, independently of their specific worth, involve the pregnant and progressive principle, that both the slave, no longer a chattel, and the master, no longer a despot, have rights and duties in relation to each other. Roman Catholicism is the prevailing religion. Education is defective, there being not more than 2550 schools of all kinds in the empire, attended by 88,800 scholars.

with the exception of the Amazon, are mostly impeded throughout by cataracts and shallows, thus counterbalancing, as it were, its matchless seaward facilities by the deficiencies of its inland communications. Further, the most navigable of these streams, instead of entering the open sea, mingle their waters with those of the Plata or of the Amazon-the Parana and the Uruguay joining the former, and the Madera, the Tapajos, the Zingu, and the Tocantins, the latter; and even among those that do send their tribute at once to the ocean, a similar direction is sometimes impressed by the dividing ridges-the San Francisco, for instance, by far the largest of them, running to the northward parallel with the south-east coast through 11° of lat., and leaving only 4° of long. for its remaining course to the Atlantic. These hydrographic peculiarities must be the more strongly felt, inasmuch as a humid surface and a luxuriant vegetation conspire to render ordinary roads all but impossible; and accordingly three railways, the Bahia, the Pernambuco, and the San Paulo, are in progress of construction, under a public guarantee of 7 per cent. a year on the capital subscribed.

Among the mineral treasures, besides gold and diamonds already mentioned, iron of superior quality is abundant; and salt, also, is extensively produced in saline marshes by the alternate processes, according to the season, of inundation and evaporation. The productions of the soil, which are, of course, equally various and rich, will be more satisfactorily considered under the heads of the respective localities. Suffice it to say, that the cotton is naturally excellent, and that the tea-plant of China has been introduced, though hitherto with indifferent success. The exports are necessarily different from the different sections of the country. From the north, they are coffee, cotton, cocoa, sugar, and tobacco; from the south, hides, tallow, horns, &c.; and from the middle, drugs, diamonds, gold-dust, dyes, rice, manioc, tapioca, spirits, and rosewood. Their total value in the year 1856-1857 was £12,722,600, the corresponding imports amounting to £13,761,773. The chief centres of foreign trade, and, along with San Paulo in the interior, the principal cities of the empire, are Para, Maranhão, Bahia, Pernambuco, and Rio de Janeiro. This last-named port, which is likewise the seat of government, is the favourite halting-place of the outward-bound vessels for India, China, and Australia.

BRAZI'L NUTS are the seeds of the Bertholletia

The

different species of Caesalpinia (q. v.). The best kinds are those called Pernambuco Wood, All Saints' Wood, and St Martha Wood. Much of the B. W. of commerce is obtained from Caesalpinia Brasiliensis, a tree which is a native of the West Indies, commonly growing in dry places and among rocks, and seldom exceeding 30 feet in height. It has bipinnate leaves, with many smooth, obtuse, oblong leaflets, and no terminal leaflets, the flowers in pannicles, with downy stalks. The heart-wood alone is of any value.-PERNAMBUCO WOOD is the produce of Casalpinia echinata, a prickly tree, with prickly pods, and of which the red and yellow flowers have a delicious smell, resembling that of the lily of the valley. The sap-wood is extremely thick, and the valuable heart-wood bears a small proportion to the whole diameter of the stem.-The Sappan Wood (q. v.) of the East Indies nearly approaches B. W. in quality. It is the produce of Casalpinia Sappan, a small thorny tree.-The BRAZILETTO WOOD, sometimes also called B. W., which is brought from the Antilles, is much inferior. Caesalpinia crista probably yields some of the inferior West Indian BrazilWood. It is a curious circumstance, that B. W. is said not to take its name from Brazil, but to be mentioned under the name Braxilis in documents much older than the discovery of America, the Sappan Wood of the East Indies being probably intended, and the name of Brazil has even been supposed to be derived from that of this product of its soil.

When freshly cut, the colour of B. W. is yellow; but when exposed to air, moisture, and light, it becomes red, and is generally sent into market ground down to the size of ordinary saw-dust. When treated with water, alcohol, or ether, the weathered B. W. readily yields up its red colouring matter, called Brazéléin. oxidation of a colourless substance called Brazilin, The latter is supposed to be produced from the which exists in the original yellow wood of the tree. Strong decoctions of B. W. are used by the dyer and calico-printer in the fabrication of reds, browns, &c.; it is also used in the manufacture of red ink. See INK.

BRAZILIAN GRASS, an incorrect popular name applied to a substance used in the manufacture of a very cheap kind of hats, known as B. G. hats, and also as chip hats. It consists of stripes of the leaves of a palm, Chamaerops argentea, which are imported into Britain for this manufacture, and chiefly from Cuba. See CHAMÆROPS.

BRAZILIAN PLUM. See HOG PLUM.

BRAZING, or BRASS SOLDERING, is the process of uniting together two pieces of brass, two pieces of copper, or one of each, by means of a hard solder, partaking more or less of the composition and properties of ordinary brass. The edges or parts of metal to be joined are first filed bright, so as to be thoroughly clean, then there is strewed over the gap or crevice a mixture of the solder and borax. The solder employed varies in composition according to the kind of work, and may be rendered more fusible by the addition of a larger amount of zinc, but the general proportions are (1) 16 copper, 16 zinc, and 1 tin; (2) 12 brass, 4 zinc, and 3 tin; or (3) 18 brass, 3 zinc, and 2 tin. When the whole has been fused together, it is allowed to cool, and is then filed down to a coarse powder, in which state it is used. The borax is employed to form a glaze over the brightened surfaces, and thus prevent the oxidation of the metal, which would seriously interfere with B., and even stop the operation. An outward coating or layer of charcoal is likewise serviceable in the exclusion of the air during the B. of large pieces of metal. Where a very high heat is